Influence
by Derpechu
Summary: Eleven demigods and a hunter were conceived, one each with half a godly parent. Naturally they were not paid much mind by the gods, but once half of their bloodlines disappears from Olympus, suspicions begin to arise. One from each Olympian, the Oracle rasped, bringing these twelve together for a treacherous quest. The new enemy is rising, and only half of them will return alive.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**Thirteen Years Earlier... **

**Dionysus's POV**

I only met the little thing once. And I hated the fact that it was a girl.

She was sitting at the kitchen table with her brown baby hair up in pigtails high on her head. She had on overalls over a brown long sleeve shirt. Her boots had teddy bears on them. She was at least two. I raised an eyebrow when I noticed she was eating grapes. Maybe her mother, Lynn, knew I was coming and purposely gave her grapes, or it was a matter of coincidence, but I knew all too well that daughters of Apollo didn't have coincidences.

Oh yes, I can remember clearly when Apollo screamed at me for impregnating his daughter. Not like he cared for her, though. He called her Lindsey, giving me proof that he didn't care for her and had never met her. In my defense, she came onto me, and I haven't been allowed that kind of fun in years. Lynn had long blonde hair and blue eyes, like any normal Apollo girl, but now she just looked tired.

I was in my younger form, brown shaggy hair and wild purple eyes. I wore my tiger print t-shirt and a pair of black pants. I leaned against the door frame in the kitchen, smirking. Lynn hadn't even noticed I was there as she washed dishes. I noticed she didn't have a dish washer like most sensible people. Then again, this was a run down apartment with leaks and cheap rent.

The little thing noticed me, though. She's sitting on her knees in the lawn chair that was being used as a chair for the kitchen table. She picked up a grape between two of her small fingers, looked at it, looked at me, and then threw it at me. I wasn't that far away, so I caught it playfully between my teeth. The girl giggled and clapped her hands.

Lynn jumped, scared out of her wits, right before she saw me. "You-"

"Hey, Lindy," I smirk as I wag my fingers.

She rinses her arms and hands and throws the hand towel down. I raise an eyebrow as she storms towards me, ready to smite me where I stood.

"You bastard!" she yelled. "Getting me knocked up and kicking me out of Camp Half-Blood, leaving me out here with no Child Support and-"

"It's good to see you as well," I muse.

And I get slapped. I guess I might deserve that.

"What do you want?!" she yells again.

The little girl stood and pointed a tiny finger at me. "Whut you want?!" she repeats from her mother. I laugh, and even Lynn cracks a smile. The girl, looking confused as to why I'm laughing, folds her arms, pouting. I walk over and sit in the chair by her.

"What's your name, Cutie?" I ask.

She eats another grape. She's a grape-a-holic. "Vi-let," she says.

"Huh?"

"She's saying Violet," Lynn informs as she sits in the third chair. "Violet Stone."

I laugh. "That's punny."

She punches my arm playfully. Violet lays on the table, kicking her legs and propping her head in her hands, watching me. "Who he?"

"This," Lynn says as she rests her hand on mine, "is Daddy."

The little thing frowns at me before she shrugs and shimmies off the table. She pokes me a couple of times, as if seeing I'm real. I laugh and pick her up, holding her in my lap. She giggles a little. Lynn smiles a little at us.

Suddenly thunder shakes the apartment. Violet screams and holds on to me, crying. Lynn grips the wall. I sigh.

"ALRIGHT ALRIGHT I GOT IT!" I yell at the ceiling. The thunder recedes, but Violet is still shaking and crying. I awkwardly rub her back. "Shhh, baby girl, it's alright..."

I hand her off to Lynn. "That's my 'You're busted' cue." I kiss both of their heads. "I'm really sorry, Lynn." I notice she has tears.

"For what?" she mutters as she holds our child.

"For not being able to help you raise her. But here." I pull an envelope out of my back pocket and set it in front of her. "Use it to help take care of her."

She sets down Violet and stands, pulling me into an embrace. I carefully hug back for a moment and then pull away.

"You know I can never come back."

"I know."

"Be careful, Linda Strong."

"Lynn Stone."

"Whatever." I smirk and turn to Violet. "You gonna take care of Mommy for me?"

The little thing nods. I grin and pat her head.

"I love you, Lynn. Take care. Goodbye, Violet." I bow my head. "Until we meet again, Princess."

She giggles and runs in the other room, blushing. I give Lynn one last smile before snapping my fingers and appearing outside her door step. A homeless man stood outside muttering, "If I can get the kid I can sell her for thousands..." while looking at the door. He pales when he sees me and begins to scramble away.

I glare at him and think of the torturing father used to let me do when I was younger. Suddenly he begins to claw at his throat and fell on his butt, rocking back and forth.

Whoops.

I push on my sunglasses and snap again, this time going to Camp Half-Blood. Chiron is waiting for me at the table in front of the Big House. I walk up and sit in my chair.

"Mr. D," he muses. "Where did you go? I see you're in your younger form."

I change back into my normal form. "I don't think that is any of your concern, Centaur. Just deal the damn cards."

...

**Athena's POV **

As all of the Olympians do, I have the authority to do as I please. I do not often indulge myself, none the less, for wars never sleep across the rapidly declining Earth. There is constant work to be done. When I do retreat to mortal households for my own desires, I do not weigh my conscious down with regret typically. For those I take certain affection to, I give at least one visit. These visits never last more than an hour, as more time runs too high of a risk of attachment becoming too emotionally damaging. Sixty minutes is risky, but it is a price I have found mortals will pay. These men fall in love with me, therefore will do illogical and desperate things to persuade me further as they cling to the brief attention I grant them.

For the children I have found myself with after an affair, I cast them to their fathers to do as they please. Time has made me softer toward my offspring, none the less, and I watch over them, whispering words of wisdom is desire situations. They are partially mine, so I do have vague maternal regard for them, but there is not typically much more. I have far too many, and they are fleeting mortals. However, the circumstances do not always end the same in matters I have not complete control over, and occasionally they become an item to be respected, like my Annabeth.

Even more fleetingly in occasion, I find myself feeling higher regard for them. Annabeth and her brilliant minded father were a pair I felt fond of after quite a few centuries, and for this to occur twice in such close proximity was unusual. Perhaps Aphrodite slipped influence in by her charmspeak, but I found myself regarding another one of my children with a more regard than I typically have for demigods.

The fact of the matter has always remained that despite inheriting my intelligence, they do not always utilize it. They become clueless and uninformed of their potential, or their reckless natures end in tragedy. It has happened more than once that they are informed, but they choose to ignore or defy it. These cases are instantly lost in their full potential and I have no intervention in their lives.

I am not foolish enough to ignore the warning delivered to me personally by our Three Fates despite the evidence suggesting strongly I should have nothing to do with her. I shall grant her and her father an hour's visit.

"Athena." Devin stares at me with wide eyes, his mouth agape as he beholds my mortal appearance.

"Hello, Devin." I reach out and adjust his glasses, which have a habit of becoming crooked due to his misadventures in post drinking. "Where is our daughter?"

He is stunned, rimmed with disappointment for my true target, but he points behind himself. She is sitting on his well worn couch, her gray eyes moving rapidly across the pages of the third-grade level book. She is a mere four years old, likely not yet to begin kindergarten, yet she ignores society's expectations even now. She is truly my daughter.

"She can read already, she's memorizing song lyrics, she's already learning how to cook..." Devin shakes his head briefly, seeming entirely astounded in a typical mortal manner. "Sophia?"

She looks up only briefly from her chosen task before returning to it. He sighs and walks over to her, kneeling in front of her and gently setting the book to the side with his thumb carefully saving her place. She glares at him none the less.

"What do you need?" She sighs after a moment.

"Your mother is here for a little visit." He smiles nervously and motions to me as I pull my token for her out of the pants I'm clad in.

"My mother?" She repeats, fixating her glare to me. "I read about you, lady!"

"You have, have you?" I raise an eyebrow, but it seeds a bit of hope within my dry expectations for this child. Perhaps she will prove my theory false, though it is entirely unlikely.

"Yeah! You're one of those ladies who comes in and gets a baby in your tummy, then you give the baby to the daddy when you get sick of them!" Her glare worsens and she clenches her tiny fists. "A _prostitute." _

"Sophia Marie!" Her father scolds, but I merely shake my head and step closer to our defiant offspring.

"Listen to me as much or as less as you wish, child, but this is important." I undo the clasp on my token as I speak, not allowing our gazes to break.

"My name isn't 'child', lady. It's Sophia Marie Pent." She spits venomously. It would not surprise me if she were the offspring of that foolish, prideful Ares.

"And my name is not lady. It is Athena, and you are very lucky I do not demand respect from the likes of yourself." I sigh upon saying it, putting the pendent around her neck and fastening the clasp. "Keep this token from myself. The failure do so will result in your losing my guidance, and with the future you are setting up for yourself, you are going to need desperately. "

"I don't need guidance from anyone. Not from you, _Athena." _She growls at me, but she does not attempt to remove it as she yanks her reading from her father's grasp.

She is truly my daughter. Devin looks as if he wishes to speak further with me, but twenty minutes have passed and I have grown tired of their residence. I give him a curt nod and exit. There is much work to be done, and I will not sacrifice it for the likes of Sophia. Not on this night.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

**Present Day**

**Violet's POV**

I felt bad for my mom as I looked into the living room and saw her sleeping. I knew she hadn't been resting well lately. She claimed it was dreams, something that her and I had in common. Her name was Lynn Stone. Her short blonde and gray hair fell in her face. I didn't understand why she cut it short. She looked much younger and happier with long hair.

At fifteen, you would think I would begin to notice bad things happening, like the strange phone calls in the middle of the night or the neighbors dog attacking the fence whenever I went out to the back yard to check on my plants. All I really noticed was the bills piling on the kitchen table and the double shifts my mother was taking. Last week, some burly biker broke down our front door. I saw him and called nine-one-one, but when they took the sketch and went around to the local biker-gangs, they said that they couldn't find any one with one eye in the middle of their head that matched my description. I honestly believe that they didn't try. They were laughing as they left the scene.

I had a small job putting up books at the local library, but I was barely paid. It was mostly volunteer work, but usually when things got really bad around the house, I would babysit the neighbor's screaming kids when the husband would beat the wife so bad she had to go to the hospital.

The house phone rang and I flinched some, as it snapped me out of my daze. Mom stirred a little and rolled over on the couch. I pressed the green button and put the house phone to my ear as I walked out of the room.

"Hello?" I whispered, glancing back to make sure I hadn't woke my mom. Call it crazy or overprotective, but my mother didn't allow me to answer the house phone.

"Lynn? Are you there?" A voice panted. He sounded like he was running, because I could hear the wind ripping through.

"Um, well, er, this is Violet, her daughter." I stepped farther away from the living room. "May I take a message?"

"Violet, my dear! Tell your mother that it is time!" I heard a loud crash in the back ground.

"Time for what?! Sir, are you alright-"

"Just tell her to come to Half-Blood Hill!" The line went dead. I frowned and turned to put the phone back on its charger when I came face-to-face with my mother. I jumped back with a yelp.

"Who was that?" she asked, gently taking the phone from my hands.

"He, um, he didn't say, he just said to tell you that it was time." I looked at the floor and shifted from foot to foot.

"Time for what?"

"I don't kno-"

"Violet, what exactly did he say?!"

"That it was time and for you to meet him at Half-Blood Hill! I don't know, Mama! What-What's going on?"

My mom took a deep breath. I could see her small frame rattle. Some nights she went without eating so that I could have something. Usually I only ate half and wrapped up the rest for her and placed it in the refrigerator. Surprisingly, though my mother was _never _hungry, it was always gone before I woke up for school. I was actually taller than her, which scared me.

"Go pack a bag with some clothes and whatever you need to go overnight," her mother said as she looked at her feet. "We need to leave soon."

"Mom, what's going on?"

"I'll tell you in the car," she promised as she kissed my head. "Hurry, though. We need to leave immediately."

I nod and go to my room to pack. I pack jeans, shorts, t-shirts, under clothes, a toothbrush, a brush, and everything else you could expect me to pack for an over night trip. But something bugged me. For the past week and a half, my plants hadn't been growing as much as they usually did. If you can't tell, I grow vegetables to cut up in food so it will be cheaper on us. Mom had been up later in the night with the lights on and the TV off. She had turned off her cell phone and barely used electronics anymore, except the ones she had to.

"But, Mom, what about school?" I call as I zip up my bag.

"I'll call and tell them you're sick! Hurry!"

I found that weird. I had to go to a private school in Upper Manhattan for ADHD and Dyslexic kids, and even though we were so far in debt, I found it weird that I still went there. But because we struggled, I went there every day and rarely missed.

I hurried out the door and hopped into the passenger seat of my mothers car. Lynn started up the engine of the used and beat up Saturn and we pulled out of the driveway.

The ride was long. Mom wouldn't let me turn on the radio and she was very jumpy. She made me nervous. But I watched as we pulled out of the outskirts of the city and into the pretty New York, where there was actually trees and the air didn't smell like burning oil. Mom focused on driving and we barely spoke, but something about leaving the city made her fingers shaky. She watched the woods nervously and bounced her leg with the same ADHD energy that coursed through my veins. Carefully, I built up the courage and asked.

"Where are we going?" I said quietly. I've always been the shy one when it came to asking questions in class and public speaking. One time, I was doing a report on Public Services such as volunteer work, but instead of saying "public" I said "pubic" and I soon became Pubic Girl. Thanks god that was in May for a final report and I changed schools the next year.

"We're going somewhere safe, Violet," Lynn muttered. "Somewhere that they can't hurt you."

"Who can't hurt me?" Panic built up in my chest like a balloon waiting to burst.

"Chiron will explain when we get to camp, Vi, but remember this for me: Names have power. Saying your full name will attract bad things, very bad things, and I want you to stay as safe as possible. He contacted me last month, warning me that everything was coming true and I tried to keep you home. I know Sally told me that I shouldn't, that it was best if I let you go there. She understood. Her boy went here when he was twelve, I believe. Now, you're fifteen and you should've been there ages ago." Mom sighed. "I'm just glad I got to spend as much time with you as I could, Sweetie." She reached over and squeezed my hand.

"I'll see you again, Mom! Why did Mrs. Jackson's son go here? Where are we even going? Somewhere safe doesn't explain-"

"It will in time, Dear. It will in time."

I sighed and looked out the window. My mother released her hand and returned it back to the wheel. We rode in silence again, except for her humming "It's a Small World" for half an hour. When she finally quit, I was back into sanity when I smelled something burning.

"What's that smell?"

Mom sniffed and frowned. "Car's running hot. There's a service station down the road in a mile or two. We'll go there and then buy a snack and drink inside." I agreed and we drove on.

The service station had a small - very small - wooden house type thing that had exactly two tiny pumps for fuel made of metal with old sixties-style numbers. The shop had only one window and no window between the cashier and the public (not pubic). Mom and I got out of the car when I noticed a black headed girl sitting outside on a wooden bench, staring off into the distance, but for some reason I knew she had noticed our presence. I looked away quickly and followed Mom inside. Behind the windowless counter, a man stood with white hair and a skin-cancered face. He wore overalls and a friendly smile.

"Hello, ladies," he said. "Welcome to Montauk! What brings you two up this way in the middle of May? School isn't supposed to let out for a week or two, depending on where ya from."

"Oh, just a little getaway before all the kids are out and about," my mother said with a smile. I almost gawked at her acting. Fifteen minutes ago, she might have broken down crying. Now, she's laughing and chatting with this old man like she's having the best years of her life. "We're on our way down to the Long Island Sound." She smiled with her lips as she examined a bag of chips and she looked over at the man with a raised eyebrow.

His eyes flickered green for a moment and then settled back to his usual brown. "Ah, yes. The Sound is wonderful during the summer."

I heard crunching outside and I heard the girl walking away. I didn't dare look back though.

"My son will fix your car for you. He's a genius with overheated cars. Pick you out whatever snacks you would like. On the house."

We thanked him and I got me a Mountain Dew and a bag of Chex Mix. Lynn settled for water and a pack of cookies and then started up a chat with the man again. I stood a little ways back, waiting patiently.

I knew when my mother started talking about camps that this was going to be a _long _trip. So I took a seat on the inside bench and waited. And waited.


	3. Chapter Two

_**Sophia's P. O. V. **_

The first thing I do once the woman and her daughter are inside is tie back my hair. Leaving it unsecured is a absolute way for evidence to be left behind, and it's absurd to think of being caught over a minor infraction like this. Once it is tightly braided and thrown down my back and under my tank top, I walk over to the car. It is an older model, a Saturn, that has been well-worn by many years of use. It's also been overheated, and considering the kindness of the old man who works inside of the station, I will have to work quickly, before a mechanic arrives.

The woman left her window cracked approximately two inches, which I use to my advantage along the lack of a window between the station itself and the outside. I maneuver my hand inside of their car until I find the keypad, which unlocks the doors. I pop open the car door and slide into the floorboard of the driver's seat, closing the door behind me. The console is open in my next motion and I peer inside.

As I suspected, there are not many valuables. A pack of Trident gum, a cheap bouncy ball from a quarter-slot machine. A packet containing a plastic fork and knife as well as a napkin, five scattered mint tick-tacs, a crumpled piece of paper, and the woman's small, equally-as-worn-as-her-car wallet.

Unrolling the piece of paper reveals a view miscellaneous numbers configuring math equations, so I open the wallet and find one debit card, a few unused checks, and a twenty dollar bill. The driver's license reveals her name as Lynn Stone, and although she obviously does not have much to her name, I pocket the license and leave the rest. She will need more than I do, especially with a younger teenager in her care.

I check the view out of all four windows, then exit the car and lock it behind me. I don't have any more purpose being here, so I resume walking down the road leading into the station. I haven't been there long, but I needed another alternate alias I could take under unlikely interrogation. I resemble Lynn Stone in the face enough for a quickly configured backstory could convince authorities of our being the same person. Once I am a fair distance from the station, I slide her license into the wallet I carry in my zipped pocket at all times.

There is not room for error giving my lifestyle. I prefer the challenging routine rather than the one my father chose for me when I was young, as I have no reason to please either of my parents. I attend a expensive boarding school in the lower regions of Manhattan, which my father pays for with his pristine, well-paying job that he found when I was ten years old. Despite my insistent instinctive urges to trade that for a full life of thievery and self-survival, I am intelligent enough to know that the nine-month period of providing room and board in exchange for academic excellence is an arrangement to be savored while it is available. The next school year will be my last, which I do not dread like so many others, so I have tolerated this past year. Due to my exemption on my final exams due to my nearly flawless grades, I am out early and beginning my first three months away from my father completely. He will not come to any school events, as I have none that I take part in, and I have openly decreed I will not return to his home again. He is intelligent enough to know that I was not bluffing, and any hope he may have configured that I was will die within the next two weeks.

I am Montauk according to the man working the gas station. I do not have any city or town in mind as I walk down the road, but I am positive I will find somewhere within the next week or so to strike out for the summertime. Long Island seems like a nice place, but I have seen past the Mist on the news from the cameras. There are monsters crawling the streets, but maybe a little action won't be a bad thing. My ADHD urges me to keep things entertaining and full of action, which my boarding school is limited on.

The sun tells me it is around four in the afternoon when I stop for a brief rest on a roadside bench. It is not sanitary, but the heat is intense today, and the fact I have not hydrated in two hours does not help. I have not sat there long when the Saturn, unmistakably the one I took inventory of just two hours ago, rolls past me. Obviously the mechanic arrived a decent time after my departure for it to only now be catching up with me, but it is still not in the best shape.

As it drives past, I feel a strange, tugging sensation passing over me. It seems to happen more and more frequently, particularly if there is a monster, but Lynn Stone and her daughter are not my enemy. In that case, I can only assume the woman is a god in disguise, or that one or both of them are demigods. Neither of remaining explanations are pleasant or desired, but it intrigues me none the less.

There are undoubtly some demigods in my boarding school, but we are all secretive about it. Despite my resentment for my bloodline I have not interacted with one with it being known by either of us, and the possibility being presented to me does not sound horrendous. They are native to this state, and I have found the people with the least amount of things will often give the most to others. They are, if nothing else, a faster means of transportation.

I begin to dash after them upon making my decision. I am reasonably in shape due to my hours training for monster interferences, which have been the only thing to get me into slight trouble in the school. The Saturn is barely in view after several minutes of unrelenting running, but they should be able to see me through the rearview mirror. I begin to wave my arms while I continue to rush, and slowly but certainly, they stop.

Lynn Stone is sleep and food deprived. This is apparent as I lean over to speak to her through her window, which is unfortunate but not an uncommon reality. She is wary of me but not immediately distrustful, which is unwise of her despite my age. I doubt she has noticed her missing license.

"Hello," she says slowly. "Who are you?"

"Noah Crain," I lie smoothly. "Where are you two heading?"

She eyes me up and down, but there is a hint of assumption in her features. She can sense the aurora that I felt, the feeling the we have something in common. Neither of us can confirm it without risking ourselves, however.

"Where are you?" She replies uneasily.

I shrug and reply one of the few true things I will likely tell them. "I don't know. I'm just looking for a place to park it while school is out."

She is a mother, which is likely why she considers thinking it over. I am nearly an adult myself but still a teenager, and she seems to have a set of good morals about her. She looks over to her daughter, who is staring at me with no shame, then sighs.

"We can drop you off somewhere, hon." She motions to the back of their car. "Hop in."

"Thank you, ma'am." I do as she asks and carefully adjust myself to try and obtain comfort. I have not ridden in a car since last summer, as I have long since sold the one my father offered; I could buy one of my choice with that profit, but have not needed one yet.

For the next half an hour, we ride in silence. Her daughter is obviously very nervous, and the way she continues to jiggle her leg and twist her hair I get the feeling she has ADHD as well. Her mother breaks the silence with the humming of an obnoxious tune from Disney World, and despite my not being excessively into music, I began to long for a phone or an iPod.

"So, Noah." The daughter finally speaks up, though her voice is soft. "Where are you...Um, from?"

"I move a lot," I say casually, my confident tone more or less conquering hers. "But I have been in New York about a year."

"Oh," she says again, now even more quietly. She knows not to press for information, which is exceedingly uncommon in most of my peers.

I sigh softly and lean back again. We travel for another half an hour before entering Long Island, and the tension over the car is immediate and obvious. All three of us are sitting erectly in our chairs now, our gazing flicking constantly. This is more or less a conclusion to their being demigods, but there is no relief in it.

"Noah." Lynn's voice is as stiff as her posture. "You don't have anywhere particular you need to go, correct?"

"Yes ma'am." I do not sound much better than her.

"I have somewhere to take Violet. I will drop you off near some apartments afterward, if you'd like." Her breathing is becoming more labored, and Violet stares at her, seeming truly confused and petrified.

I nod once in confirmation. We continue through Long Island for quite some time before we take a turn into a more rural area, one with thick woods and an even stronger aurora. I stare at the blurring figures of cows as the car picks up more speed, straining the meter. Violet finally cannot take it any longer.

"Mom!" She yells, which is a large milestone from her addressing me. "Where are we going?"

She is obviously about to cry, but her mother does not answer. Instead, she slams on the break, jerking us all forward and making Violet scream. She opens her mouth to say something, but her mother only shakes her head and throws open her door. She rushes into the woods and Violet and I exchange a glance through the rearview mirror.

"We need to follow her," I say casually.

She seems too shaken to move, so I sigh and get out myself. If she is not going to follow her maternal unit to the source of the aurora, I will drag her by her arm as she whimpers. Unfortunately, I end up doing the latter of my two options.


	4. Chapter Three

**Violet's POV**

If Hogwarts was real, I would be placed in Hufflepuff. It's common knowledge that Hufflepuff's are particularly good finders. They're happy, patient, loyal, and usually sweet. They're the optimists of the wizarding world. Unfortunately, Hogwarts does not exist and there is no Sorting Hat to tell me what house I would be in. Though after today, I'm still not sure what's real and what's not. Chiron has never told me that wizards weren't real. He denied Nicolas Flamel, but he never denied Harry Potter. If you catch my drift.

One thing I noticed about myself as I was being towed behind Noah as I cried like a toddler was that I wasn't a good runner. I knew that I had weak ankles and would occasionally roll them somewhat to get out of physical labor in gym class, but I never knew that running on actual _dirt _involved this much labor. Jumping over tree roots, that was another thing I didn't enjoy. Well, instead of listing everything I hate about the great ol' outdoors, I'll just say that I really, _really _love air conditioning.

My hitchhiker buddy seemed to be running at full speed without breaking a sweat. She had a hold of my elbow and was sprinting, dragging me just fast enough for me to lose my footing and fall on my face. Twice. My mom, Lynn, was just up ahead of us, pulling something out of her pocket that I thought was her cell phone. When she clicked a button, it began to glow gold and transformed in a bright light into a bow, as in an archer's bow, not a Minnie Mouse bow. I didn't notice the notched bronze arrow until she stopped at the foot of the hill, her bow downwards, but in a ready position. I gawked.

"Mom, what in the world -"

She interrupted me for the twentieth time that day. Obviously, something was wrong. Not that I hadn't picked up on that. I picked up on it earlier. I just realized now that we're in some kind of... Danger. "Don't speak."

A growling sound came from the woods. My mom stood tall with her chin raised high. One leaf stuck out of her short blond hair and, to be honest, I felt safe with her. I knew there was danger in the trees, and I could feel its presence, but I felt safe with her. Lynn was on guard, and she was protecting me and Noah.

"Violet, Noah, run up that hill and don't stop," my mom said. Her eyes never looked away from the woods. "Go get some councilors and tell them that I need back up. If they say I'm mortal, tell them that I'm Lynn Stone, daughter of Apollo."

"Apollo?" Noah said, her eyebrow raising with interest and shock. My reaction was opposite.

"Mom, that's a rocket ship."

I knew afterwards if she could've looked away from the trees, I would've been given her signature glare. Noah, comprehending what my mother was saying before I did, grabbed my arm and began walking towards the hill. I some how felt as though she was pulling me along like a big sister pulls along their annoying younger sibling. I'm not annoying. My mommy says I'm adorable.

"Violet, we have to go," Noah says as she begins to feel my resistance against leaving my mom.

"No!" I snap. "I can't leave her! Mom, Mom, come on! There's people up here! You said there was! If something's wrong with the car-"

"Nothing's wrong with the car," Noah said quietly. "Don't talk so loud."

"I can talk however loud I want to talk!" I snap louder and more forceful. This isn't my usual personality. I'm usually quiet and reserved. Something makes me tingle inside, like an urging to... to go insane. No, I want _her _to go insane. I want her to feel how she would feel abandoning her mother. I want her to feel fear. I want her to hurt...

Noah grabs her temples, dropping my arm, and closes her eyes as she rubs them forcefully. "Quit it, you idiot!" she yells.

The sensation leaves me as I run over to my mother. I don't know what just happened. I was visioning her watching some dark headed lady abandoning her younger self and being surrounded by spiders, but it all ended when I lost my rage. I cooled and went back to my mom.

"I'm staying with you," I whisper. "I don't know the problem, but..."

There's a quiet thud as Noah falls on her knees, groaning and holding her head. This is the beginning of my first attack - Mom turned from the trees and looked at Noah. This is where her instinct to heal and help came in. Later I realized Apollo was the god of healing, hence her heartbreak of not getting into nursing school, but this showed the monster a perfect time to attacked. It lunged out of the trees and onto my mother. She spun as it was mid launch and fumbled the arrow, but it flew into the trees and the monsters paws hit her shoulders.

There was a slight stunned pause as I took a split second to look at it. It had a lion's head with a scorpion tail, and it was huge, bigger than the lion at the New York City Zoo. Possibly twice the size of that one. It growled at my mother aggressively, but it seemed to be savoring in her fear. I looked down at my mother and saw that she wasn't screaming. She was fighting against it, squirming and trying her best to get free.

_Well? _a voice in my head spoke. It was a man's voice, which startled me. _Are you just going to stand there or are you going to save her?_

That snapped me out of my daze. I turned quickly and grabbed a branch that was broken under a tree. I didn't remember that being there before, but I turn quickly and, to my surprise, the branch connects with the lions snout. It howled loudly, and snarled at me. It released my mother's shoulders and, to my alarm, began walking towards me, licking its lips and growling.

Noah was watching. She pulled herself up to her feet and silently ran up the hill. The lion glanced in her direction but didn't seem amused. The scorpion tail flicked at me. I yelped and blocked it with the large branch. It didn't come to me until later that I was surprised I could lift it. The tail shot at me again and I jumped out of the way. It pierced the ground with terrifying speed.

I felt like I could hear my body shaking. I kept walking backwards, keeping my eyes on the lion/scorpion and my branch between us. It roared and swatted it away. The branch clattered on the ground a few yards away in splinters. I gulped.

Suddenly, my mom screamed, _"VIOLET! MOVE!"_

I dove to the side, not understanding but wanting to live. The lion roared and started to jump at me, but a whistling sound ripped through the air as about a hundred arrows fell through the air and into the lion's side and head. It gave one last weak roar before turning to dust.

I looked at Mom. She had deep scratches in her shoulder, but she seemed to be okay. I looked at the source of the arrows and saw about twenty blond archers (who looked a lot like my mother) and a man on a horse. Noah stood next to them, a relieved look on her face. Next to the man on the horse was an old guy, with a gray beard and a can of Diet Coke in his hand. He seemed to be glaring at me.

Of course, I hurried over to my mom and helped her carefully to her feet. That was a lot of blood. I put my arm around her waist and helped her towards the hill. The man on the horse came down the hill. That's when I realized he wasn't on a horse. He _was _a horse, with his upper body of a man and his waist down a horse.

"Let me see her, child. I will take her to the infirmary and get her wounds healed."

I hesitated. "No, I got it. And I'm not a child."

"The Manticore has poisonous scratches. If not attended to quickly, she could bleed out or die a slow and painful death." He held out his arms. "My name's Chiron. I will take good care of your mother."

I reluctantly handed her over. Chiron carried her gently in his arms and walked with me up with hill. The old man caught my arm. I jumped, but the man's grip was firm.

"We need to talk," he said firmly.

"Ab-bout wh-what?" I stuttered out.

He dropped his can, crushed it under his sandal, and nodded above my head. "About that."

I looked up. Above my head floated a pine-cone on a stick with a ribbon tied around it. It must mean something, I'm sure. I looked back at the archers, to see their faces, but only to see them bowing for me. Noah bowed, and Chiron had his head lowered. My mother smiled at me.

I had no idea what this meant.

When I didn't say anything, Chiron gave me a kind smile. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, daughter of Dionysus."

"Now let's go have some Daddy-Daughter bonding time, kid." The old man took me by my elbow and hurriedly walked towards a giant house.

* * *

Daddy-Daughter bonding time didn't go as planned.

The tension could be cut with a rusted butter-knife. I sat across the desk from Dionysus, who happened to be my said father. Questions surged in my head, but I kept quiet and watched as he tortured himself with wine. He had pulled a bottle out from under his desk as soon as we had left Chiron and the others and went into his office. He uncorked it with his stubby fingers and held the bottle to his nose, sniffing with a grin.

"This was a good year," he whispered. Pulling it away from his face, he poured into the golden goblet. I watched closely and saw his face curve into a frown. The wine splashed onto the bottom. He filled it half-way and looked at it with suspicion.

"What is it?" I asked quietly, leaning forward to see if perhaps there was a bug floating in it.

"Zeus doesn't allow me to have wine," he grumbled, carefully taking the beverage. "I'm not sure how much longer until I get to drink it, but if I remember correctly, it's much longer."

I leaned back and watched as he shrugged his shoulders and put the goblet to his lips. I saw him swallow, his eyes budge, and he tossed his cup on the floor. "_Di Immortals!" _He bellowed. I jumped backwards in the chair, almost tipping it over, but caught myself on a metal rack. What I didn't know was that the rack was his wine collection. He screamed again for me to let go, but I yelped and tumbled down in the chair, pulling the rack on top of me. I covered my head just in time.

Wine spilled around me. Glass shattered on my back and on the ground. I shut my eyes and mouth. The sticky liquid slipped through my hair and soaked my clothes. I held in my scream, scared and worried I was hurt.

The silence that followed was deafening. I raised my head and looked around. The burgundy wine, the color of my eyes, looked like blood around me. The glass cut into my hands as I pushed myself up. Blood from them mixed with the wine. I sat up on my knees, pushing my wet hair out if my face and rubbing it out of my stinging eyes. The room had a new scent. It went from old musty men to sweet wine from Italy.

I looked over at my father. His face with in shock and little specks of the wine were on his face. I stuttered out an apology. He carefully crept over and picked up a broken bottle as if he was picking up a child.

"I've spent... My whole life collecting these..." He said quietly. I saw his eyes flicker towards me. I knew the shock was coming out. He surged towards me and grabbed me by my shoulder.

I yelped as I was pinned against a wall. Images flashed through my head - scenes of vines entering people and ripping out their spines; mad and drunk people running and falling to their deaths off the cliffs in Greece; an insane man screaming and holding his head. I felt like my skull was splitting.

Dionysus released me and pushed me towards the door. "Go on. Go check on your mother. We'll discuss this after I get your mess cleaned up. Oh and no dessert for you."

I stepped out the door to find every person in this Gods-Forsaken place standing outside, some talking to Noah, who sat on the swing and the others waiting for me. I froze in horror. Their eyes glued to me. Mouths hung open and others made "Ooooh" noises. Noah stood on her feet, horrified and looking at me. I noticed she had a Hello Kitty Band-Aid on her finger, but not any other scratch was on her. I didn't notice Chiron until he was standing right next to me on his horse legs.

"We heard the screams," he said calmly. "What happened?"

I looked at my wine stained clothes. "Wh-where are the sh-h-h-howers?"

He pointed to a green painted building with the word "Ladies" across it in Greek. "Right over there."

I pushed through the crowd of people and sprinted as fast as my weak legs would take me to the showers.


End file.
